Glossary Term – Organization

Bolsheviks were the dominant political power in Russia after the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party seized control of that country’s government in 1917. The Bolsheviks (“Bolshevik” meaning “one of the majority”) were anti-feudal revolutionaries who were described in the United States as radical, anti-capitalist socialists. Under the leadership of Vladimir Leninm the Bolsheviks changed their party name to the “Russian Communist Party” in 1918 (and later to the “Communist Party of the Soviet Union”). In the United States, charges...

Glossary Term – Person

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931– ) was the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and, briefly, president of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev came to power as general secretary in 1985, following the death of Konstantin Chernenko. As the Soviet leader, Gorbachev implemented major political and economic reforms in an attempt to modernize and restructure the country. In 1989–1990, Gorbachev supported reform in the Soviet-bloc, and as Communist governments in eastern European countries began to collapse, Gorbachev agreed to the...